Labor Relations

In our country, which stresses the right to be free, means that workers hold the right to choose what they want, who they want to represent them, and have a voice in their wages and their working conditions. Unions were created to give and organize an effective means for workers in many job fields to join together to solve problems and have their voices heard regarding their wages, better benefits, safer working conditions, and better job opportunities.

The organization of unions is supposed to be a right guaranteed by law. However, there are many times when employers have directly got in the way and hindered with worker organizing efforts. The intimidation and feeling of fear in many workplaces makes joining a union extremely hard. This unacceptable behavior shown by big businesses to throttle the efforts of their workforce trying to improve the quality of their lives is unacceptable.

The formation of unions is important to many Americans. The function of unions is to help improve the quality of life of working families. Even though the economy is strong, some Americans can't recall the last time they got a raise. Over the years the unionized workforce has dwindled, and the gaps in income have become increasingly dramatic. Many U.S. corporations are making record profits, and it seems that working people are struggling having difficulties making ends meet.

Unions help our society in general; promoting fair wages, fair taxes, and justice throughout our society. Unions attack all wage gaps, the discrepancy between executive pay and that of workers, income differences for women and for people of color, for the disabled, they fight discrimination and actively promote equal treatment and opportunity for all the workers in our society.

Alfred North Whitehead once said, "The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order" (wisdomquotes.com, 2005). When changes are made in employee relations, an organization must adapt quickly in order to keep things running smoothly and maintain a competitive edge. Failure to do so could leave companies struggling to get a foothold in employee relations.

Recently in New York the M.T.A. had labor unrest when negotiations over union wages and pensions, which lead to strikes. After the strike negotiations are still very unstable and it seems like the M.T.A. is pressuring union leaders. Recently, the M.T.A. "proposed a contract considerably harsher than the one that the city's transit workers narrowly voted down."(Chan, Greenhouse, 2006) Even though the M.T.A. has every right to do what they have